Horror films from A to Z: part four

At The ABCs of Death, showing now at the Sie FilmCenter, you're going to get the equivalent of horror tapas -- one short, punchy tale for each letter of the alphabet, each delivered by a current or rising star in the genre. It's a tasty appetizer that can serve as a meal in and of itself, but what if you want more? What if this just whets your appetite for horrific death and graphic dismemberment?

We're here to help. In the spirit of The ABCs of Death, we're offering 26 full-length horror-movie suggestions, one for each letter of the alphabet, at a pace of five a day for each day the film is showing (on day five, we'll actually offer six, because of the alphabet and math). Some are favorites old and new, some are overlooked gems, and some are just there because, look, there aren't very many horror movies that start with Q, okay?

From the deadly silver globe to the ultra menacing Tall Man, Don Coscarelli's

Phantasm

is full of indelible images. Pair those with a strange tale of a mortuary that's the site of an interdimensional doorway and a plot to turn corpses into dwarf zombie slaves, and you have a one-of-a-kind horror film that's spawned three sequels and a huge cult following.

Q is for Quarantine

The biggest knock on

Quarantine

is that it's a completely unnecessary remake of the excellent Spanish film

REC

. If you can get past that, it's a nice, tense thriller about a news crew trapped inside an apartment building full of rabies-infected "zombies." Besides, it's not like

Stuart Gordon's tale of medical-school madness and reanimated corpses is based loosely on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, but it's a sure bet Lovecraft never imagined the unforgettable scene where a severed head performs oral sex on an unwilling co-ed. Or maybe he did. Lovecraft was

Cory Casciato is a Denver-based writer with a passion for the geeky, from old science fiction movies to brand-new video games. His work has appeared in The A.V. Club, Topless Robot, Colorado Public Radio, The Zombie Research Society and, of course, Westword.